The U.S. Congress is about to release a new draft framework for regulating the digital asset market, and the legislative process is accelerating, but the Trump family's deep involvement in the crypto industry may become a major variable in future bipartisan cooperation in Congress.
Digital Asset Legislation Hearing
According to reports from The Block citing informed sources, Republican senior members of the House Financial Services Committee, French Hill and Bryan Steil, along with Glenn Thompson from the House Agriculture Committee, are expected to publicly unveil the draft content ahead of the joint hearing on May 6.
The hearing is titled 'The Future of American Innovation and Digital Assets: A Blueprint for the 21st Century', scheduled to take place at 10 AM Eastern Time, focusing on the long-discussed legislative framework for the structure of the digital asset market to establish a clear regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency market in the United States.
Draft content continues the FIT 21 structure
It is reported that much of the new draft will continue the planning of the 2023 House-passed (21st Century Financial Innovation and Technology Act (FIT 21)). The core of FIT 21 is to define which regulatory agency should be responsible for digital assets: the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), or both jointly regulating.
The bill proposes to authorize the CFTC to expand its supervisory authority to manage the cryptocurrency spot market and assets classified as 'digital commodities' (especially Bitcoin), while setting a clearer regulatory scope for the SEC. Informed sources revealed that about 90% of the new draft content is similar to FIT 21.
Ron Hammond, Senior Director of Government Relations at the Blockchain Association, stated that the legislative process is moving quickly, and Congress may hold another hearing or directly enter the 'line-by-line review' phase in the future, with public debates, revisions, and voting.
Stablecoin bill may be handled together
In addition to the market structure bill, the House and Senate are also pushing for stablecoin legislation. President Donald Trump has expressed hope to sign the stablecoin bill into law before August this year. Some legislators believe that market structure and stablecoin bills may be handled together.
Representative Hill has described the two bills as 'interconnected', while Steil likened their relationship to 'peanut butter and jelly'. However, with the midterm elections approaching in November 2026, some lawmakers are concerned that the bipartisan divide may worsen, making it more difficult to merge the bills. Some lawmakers argue that stablecoin legislation should be prioritized due to its relatively straightforward scope.
Trump's involvement in cryptocurrency increases legislative resistance
However, the Trump family's recent active positioning in the crypto market could pose significant obstacles to the bill's passage. Hill admitted in a March interview that the cryptocurrencies launched by the Trump family, including the developing DeFi protocols, issued meme coins and NFTs, as well as the stablecoin USD1 recently launched by Trump-supported World Liberty Financial (WLFI), have indeed made legislative work more complicated.
In recent weeks' congressional hearings, Democratic members have expressed strong concerns. Maxine Waters, the chief Democrat member of the House Financial Services Committee and a California representative, accused the Trump family of 'profiting from cryptocurrency projects'. Ron Hammond also commented:
'The deeper the Trump family and World Liberty Financial get involved in the crypto space, the more attack points the Democrats will have. This situation may worsen over time, affecting the bipartisan cooperation that may have emerged in the Senate.'
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